After scandal, 2 years to clear drug backlog

Thursday

Feb 21, 2013 at 6:00 AMFeb 21, 2013 at 10:05 PM

The backlog of drug evidence testing caused by a shutdown of two state labs will take more than two years to erase. That was the grim status report given to the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday by state public safety officials at a budget hearing at Worcester State University.

By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The backlog of drug evidence testing caused by a shutdown of two state labs will take more than two years to erase, even with a major staff expansion, and it is growing by about 1,000 cases each month while the state works to develop new lab capacity.

That was the grim status report given to the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday by state public safety officials at a budget hearing at Worcester State University. In the wake of the scandal that forced the shutdown of the state public health drug testing lab in Jamaica Plain because of falsified data, the committee also was told the situation is taking a heavy toll on state police, district attorney and court budgets.

The lab scandal is also forcing prosecutors to prioritize evidence testing in new drug cases, officials said as they pitched budget proposals at the hearing on the state's public safety agency budgets.

About two dozen senators and state representatives from around the state attended the hearing co-chaired by Ways and Means Committee member John P. Fresolo, D-Worcester

Gov. Deval L. Patrick has proposed a budget that calls for $1.9 billion in tax and fee increases, including a hike in the income tax from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent, a cut in the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent, and with major increases in spending on transportation and education.

Undersecretary for Public Safety Curt Wood said problems from the shutdown of the Hinton lab after it was found last year that chemist Annie Dookhan had skipped testing procedures and changed drug weights to help prosecutions, have been compounded by the shutdown of another public health drug testing lab in Springfield. A chemist there was allegedly stealing drugs from the lab.

Public Safety officials are in the process of hiring 38 new chemists and upgrading equipment at a state police lab so they can start addressing the backlog. Mr. Wood said the backlog included evidence in 8,000 cases from the Jamaica Plain lab when it was closed and another 750 cases from closure of the Springfield lab. The lab closures have swelled the backlog by about 1,000 cases per month, he said, bringing the total backlog to about 14,000 cases. “Even with the hiring of 38 new staff and the procurement of new equipment ... We expect the backlog will probably take at least two years to get down. The backlog grows every day,” Mr. Wood said.

Public Safety and Security Secretary Andrea Cabral said of $30 million appropriated recently to pay for costs associated with the lab problems, $1.4 million is being used for immediate costs to expand the state police lab and another $2.9 million in annual increased operating costs.

The costs of re-categorizing and retesting the drug evidence dating back to 2003 is just part of the burgeoning costs associated with the drug lab scandals.

District attorneys said their staffs with already heavy workloads are being pressed into service to deal with thousands of convictions called into question by the drug tampering and defective testing problems. And court officials said they are also seeing their staffs stretched thin to deal with those cases.

Among the security improvements being planned at the state police lab undergoing expansion is the installation of cameras and use of biometric identification to gain access to drug vaults. Public Safety officials said they are also seeking funds to hire 150 additional state troopers next year.

Meanwhile, lawmakers heard from the state's top judges who made a pitch for a major increase in judges' pay that would raise the salaries of trial judges from $129,000 to $160,000 and raise Supreme Judicial Court pay from $145,000 to $180,000.

Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland testified that the pay hike, which would add $21.9 million to the state court budget, would be only the second pay hike for judges in 14 years, the last coming in 2006. “You may be interested in knowing the Massachusetts judiciary (compensation) is now ranked 48th in the country by the national center for state courts. Forty-eight out of 51, including the District of Columbia,” Judge Ireland told lawmakers.

That ranking, however, is not based solely on the size of salaries, but weighs them by adjusting for the relatively high cost of living in Massachusetts compared to other states around the county.

Mr. Ireland also said the courts “went four years without hiring one person” under a hiring freeze that ended in October. Other judges said that during that period the courts eliminated 1,300 positions, while adjusting to post-recession budget cuts.

Court officials said the courts got $561 million in the current fiscal year and are seeking approval of $589 million for fiscal 2014.

Also making pitches for more funding were the state's sheriffs and district attorneys. Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the governor's proposed budget provides only a 1 percent increase for district attorneys, who already are unable to pay prosecutors enough to keep them in the job and who often cut corners to keep an array of drug diversion and community anti-crime programs operating.

He said the starting salary for assistant district attorneys is $37,000 and that few stay more than two years.

Of 46 prosecutors in nine courts in Suffolk County, he said, only 10 have more than two years' experience. A major increase in their workloads, which typically average 400 cases at a time, is additional work being assigned in criminal conviction reviews stemming from the drug lab scandal.

“The catastrophe at the drug lab has pushed our offices to the brink,” Mr. Conley said. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael D. O'Keefe said district attorneys from around the state are asking for a 10 percent budget increases.

Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis said more funding is needed at the county jail for rehabilitative programs. He said he can only hire two or three substance abuse councilors “for a population of 1,200, of which 90 percent are drug and alcohol addicted.”

He said he has a new education director, but only three educators and only two classrooms for the entire jail and he has been buying used vans to transport prisoners. He said $150,000 is spent on four guards to oversee a community work program that has provided about $1 million each year in free work for communities, but those positions could be in jeopardy with continued low budgeting for the jail. “We are doing what we can on a limited amount of money,” he said.